GRAY
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Picasso, The dressmakers, 1926
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Gray is not a color: it’s a valeur, as we saidpreviously here. It’s just a weak white light. It’s part neither of the rainbow
nor of the color wheel. In nature it’s seen in ashes or some tree leaves, on
rocks and on some animals’ furs. Apart from these cases, it’s hardly
found in nature (there are no
gray flowers, for example).
We’ve also seen how in painting we can get gray
by mixing several colors, for example, mixing complementary colors, or tertiary
or quaternary. (See here) That’s why we can find warm and cold, depending on which colors
were used in the mixture.
The pointillists used a touch of a pure color next to another, so that these colors vibrate with more intensity, but if you step back from the painting, being around 1’5 meters from it, you’ll see how those colors turn gray. This was the weak point of their technique.
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Gris, Portrait of Josette,
1916 |
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Grünewald, Heller
Altarpiece, 1509 |
We’ve also seen how we can paint in
‘grisaille’, that is, painting monochromatically, and we gave Ingres and
Picasso as example. Here you’ve got some others that also used this
technique.
However, a pure color’s energy is
enhanced when gray is placed next to it.
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Mondrian, Composition in red, black, blue, yellow and gray,
1920 |
In terms of its symbolic aspect, it’s a
characterless color: it’s neither black nor white, which leads it to be a sign
of mediocrity, apathy or insecurity. It’s also as boring as some cloudy and
rainy days.
Ash Wednesday puts an end to the colorfulness
and the party of Carnival. Ashes imply desolation and sadness; gray leaf trees
are also used as sign of death and mourning.
It alludes to nostalgy and remoteness... As
it’s seen on elderly people’s hair, it’s also related to what is old and
outmoded, or wisdom and experience. It’s different when we are talking about
gray matter, alluding to brain, science and theory.
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| Sorolla, Gray Sea. San Sebastián, 1908 |
A city full of concrete will seem ugly to us.
Mildew on food is also gray, so it’s also sign of what is not edible anymore,
of what is rotten or expired.
In fashion, it’s sign of sobriety and elegance.
It’s also used for mourning. It was also sign of poverty and humility, since
cheap cloth was gray or brown if not dyed. It was also worn by prisoners or
workers for how it hides dirt. It was also the uniform worn by seamstresses in
early XX century in France, the so called ‘grisettes’.
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| Matisse, The Piano Lesson, 1916 |
If something is gray, it seems of bad quality;
if you don’t believe it, then just think about paper, flour, cardboard or
porcelain that is not completely white. Luxurious articles won’t come in a gray
package: it would be contradictory for how it would give an image of a cheap
product. But what would happen with gray fur coat? In these cases we pay more
attention to the material it is made with than to its color.
If somebody wears gray, they will probably be
introvert and want to stay unnoticed. Except when it comes to men’s fashion: a
gray suit will always be distinguished if the cloth is not shiny.
Sources: Welsch, N.-Liebmann, C.Chr. Farben. München, Elsevier V., 2004;
Heller, E. Wie
Farben auf Gefühl und Verstand wirken. München, Droemer V., 2000;
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